I think the voice acting was more an issue with writing than acting, particularly during the "laughing scene." You could hire Patrick Stewart for that part and it still wouldn't have sounded any better. If I were in charge of localization, I would have just probably cut that scene out. Death to all who insult FFX's gameplay, though.

I think the voice acting was more an issue with writing than acting, particularly during the "laughing scene." You could hire Patrick Stewart for that part and it still wouldn't have sounded any better. If I were in charge of localization, I would have just probably cut that scene out. Death to all who insult FFX's gameplay, though.

I'll admit it. The thought of Patrick Stewart voicing Tidus for the FFX HD remake is hilarious, and I'd even bet that he could blow the previous version out of the water (well okay, maybe not completely since even John Dimaggio couldn't salvage Wakka; and I have the distinct feeling like I'm opening a can of VA worms here, but my circuitous point here is that the direction would probably screw the performance over either way).

Granted, there would be no way in hell that Squeenix would ever consider this given that this would go against Tidus's character traits and we can't possibly have that (at the very least though they wouldn't cheap out on it like Bethesda did with Oblivion).

Regardless, it's most likely that we're probably just going to get the same recordings recycled from over a decade ago.

Honestly, I blame the voice director for as much of this as the actress, if not moreso. I think the guy had Yuna's VA record her "Okay" line ONCE and then reused it everytime she needed to say that. Horrible.

Spot on. Director's should be given credit/criticism more than they do. Sure, actors/voice actors are the people you see and hear, but every decision is the director's to make. Even the best actors blow many takes, it's the director's job to coax the best performance out of the actor, either by doing it enough times to get a really good take, coaching them, or finding them coaches (nothing to be ashamed of, different rolls take different unique acting research and practice). Part of my job is to do voiceovers or direct voiceovers for my commercials. If I don't like the way someone delivers something, I have them do it over... and over... and over, if necessary. I force them to identify and modify their inflection, stress, and style. At the end of the day, it's my responsibility, and I take the criticism/credit for the overall quality of the piece.

Yuna's voice is a great example. For all we know, the voice actress could be very talented. She certainly has no problems with her voice, itself. But she was given the impression, for whatever reason, to voice the character in an incredibly stilted manner. Also, you can tell that sometimes she just wasn't able to get into the roll, and it sounds forced. I think the localization has something to do with it too (also the director's responsibility). For the most part, Tidus's script wasn't bad, but i think they struggled with Yuna's. It's largely cultural: Yuna's personality is that of a stereotypical demure Japanese lady, for which there is no real western counterpart. The truth is, the localizers should have probably taken a bit more liberty in slightly re-defining Yuna's personality for western audiences. I believe that localizers have a duty to try to make the audiences feel as close to how the original language's audiences did. To a Japanese audience, Yuna's character is recognizable, and probably fairly comfortable. But to western audiences, it becomes awkward and calls more attention to itself than it probably should. Then put it in English, and it becomes even more bizarre. It's then the localizers' job to ratchet down the personality aspects that would make western audiences respond differently to the character than Japanese audiences. Again... director's responsibility. By the time it got to the voice actress, there wasn't a whole lot she could do to smooth out the character. And probably the director was still not thinking so much about western audience's different response to the character, and was pushing the voice actress to be as demure as possible. That was their decision, and I believe it was a bad one. Of course, localization teams have to answer to home base, and it may have been that the Japanese office is to blame for forcing these awkward cultural aspects on the localization project.

That said, I hear that the English voice acting is miles ahead of the Japanese, in this case. I gather they used the motion capture actors to do the voice acting, with very poor results. Many people claim that it's one of the worst Japanese voice acting jobs in video games.

Mystic quest was a blemish on my pristine memories of the beginning of the golden era of RPG's for me.... to be honest its been far too long since I played it to tell you what left me with such an ill impression of the title... I do remember appreciating on screen enemies and some different play mechanics though (jumping and swinging a sword in real time on the map screens if I recall correctly)

Back from the hay-day of FFVI, Chrono, Secret of Mana (the real square titans in my mind...) I remember Mystic quest and Secret of Evermore really leaving a bad taste in my mouth.... Evermore I remember much more clearly..... I recall the MC's sprite making me feel as though I was always playing as the older brother from the show "The Wonder Years".... I freakin' hated it....

Mystic quest was a blemish on my pristine memories of the beginning of the golden era of RPG's for me.... to be honest its been far too long since I played it to tell you what left me with such an ill impression of the title... I do remember appreciating on screen enemies and some different play mechanics though (jumping and swinging a sword in real time on the map screens if I recall correctly)

Back from the hay-day of FFVI, Chrono, Secret of Mana (the real square titans in my mind...) I remember Mystic quest and Secret of Evermore really leaving a bad taste in my mouth.... Evermore I remember much more clearly..... I recall the MC's sprite making me feel as though I was always playing as the older brother from the show "The Wonder Years".... I freakin' hated it....

I played both games at the time, even owned Secret of Evermore. I have not played it in a very long time, but my memories of Evermore are all positive. I do remember some big market area where you had to trade stuff that got kind of annoying, but I liked it enough to beat the game. Maybe its just nostalgia talking, so it does not hold up?

Even though I was young, I do remember Mystic Quest feeling a little to simple, probably because I was also playing some of those golden RPGs you where talking about at the same time. Strangely I have no memories of Mystic Quests music, which checking it out on yotube now, is excellent. Who is the composer for that?

Logged

Rumors about my snacks are false. They are not so hot you die of coughing

"Six years after release, Final Fantasy XII will see the piano arranged treatment, and is said to be coming soon. The album will be overseen by FFXII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto and will contain several tracks." -- Source: Nova Crystallis

"New Ultimania guide books are on their way Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a set of three to commemorate Final Fantasy's 25th anniversary.

Volume 1 covers Final Fantasy I-VI, Volume 2 covers VII-IX and Volume 3 covers X-XIV. Each book will contain 320 pages and include never before seen artwork. Priced at Ã‚Â¥3,255, all three will be available from December 18th exclusively through the Square Enix e-Shop. Those who buy the entire set will get a special bonus item, which remains unannounced." -- Source: Nova Crystallis